CH 473/573 The Chemistry Behind Environmental Issues

This course is designed as an elective for upper division undergraduates and as a master's level course for teachers in secondary education who are looking for additional coursework. The class assumes that the student already has some background in introductory chemistry, but important concepts will be reviewed. Topics include environmental chemistry of the Willamette Valley, air pollution, water pollution (metallurgical operations, pulp mill industry, Bonneville Power Administration), pesticides/herbicides, wastewater treatment, stratospheric ozone depletion (chlorofluorocarbons - CFC's), and global warming (carbon dioxide emissions).

Meets Monday through Thursday 1:00-2:05 PM.

Instructor: Dr. Pete Poston, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Ph.D. 1989 University of Utah; Dissertation Research: Applications of Analytical Laser Spectroscopy to ultrasensitive detection, materials characterization, and photochemistry; Academic-year courses include General Chemistry, Quantitative Analysis, Instrumental Methods, Computational Chemistry, Chemical Instrumentation, Experimental Chemistry, Technical Photography, Environmental Chemistry, and Forensic Chemistry; Research interests include the study of pollutant degradation at surfaces using chemometrics, attenuated total internal reflection Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS).